A Beacon Hill standoff over state’s future

Blue Mass Group has a post praising Gov Deval Patrick for calling out the uninspiring proposal that House Speaker Bob DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray are calling transportation planning.

Patrick points out that DeLeo and Murray’s plan would raise taxes without producing any discernible improvement to Massachusetts’ outdated and dysfunctional transportation infrastructure.

And indeed, the more you look at the legislative document, the more it appears to be a tax hike aimed at protecting the pensions of MBTA employees, pensions that are far too generous to begin with. And the more it appears a status-quo plan — keep what Greater Boston has for transportation infrastructure, as opposed to a plan to grow both the statewide infrastructure and economy.

The polls showing a majority of the public supports new taxes as long as there are going to be improvements to public transportation. So whose interests are DeLeo and Murray representing? The MBTA (government) employees? Boston businesses that already have good transportation infrastucture?

One could argue that the leadership plan is a great argument for why public pensions are not a good idea for elected officials. The officials spend their careers doing anything to get re-elected, and that often means avoiding hard decisions. They cater to special interests and government employees for their campaign contributions but also to the unrealistic expectations of the public that it’s possible to have both low taxes and high government service.

Patrick’s tax reform plan not only rebuilds the transportation infrastructure in a way that will grow jobs, it spreads the tax burden equitably by shifting a regressive tax (sales tax) that falls hardest on the poor over to the middle class and high earners (income tax).

The DeLeo and Murray plan, however, looks increasingly like a scheme to protect those who are comfortable, and not only at the expense of the working class, but at the expense of all the state’s residents by refusing to build the transportation infrastructure necessary to keep Massachusetts competitive with the Far East and Europe.

Our own Mattapoisett state Rep. Bill Straus, the transportation committee chair, points out that if the state puts itself on a stronger capital footing, it will be easier to borrow money for big transportation projects in the future. But the argument seems unconvincing as it has always been the future with Southcoast commuter rail. Thirty years of “wait a few more years” at this point.

The truth is there is never a good (spell that politically popular) time to raise taxes for the revenue necessary to build an economy.

At this point, DeLeo, Murray and Straus asking for more time for the commuter rail project — never mind the state’s other long range road and bridge needs — could very well be viewed by the Southcoast public as just another excuse.

In addition, it’s a good bet that Massachusetts will elect a Republican governor in two years, and that governor could well be Charlie Baker, who is a long opponent of restoring commuter rail to Southeastern Massachusetts.

The governor has put forward a plan that doesn’t raise taxes in a knee-jerk way (as the state Legislature has often done) but rather reforms the tax code so it’s more progressive, with the middle and investment classes that most benefit from the transportation infrastructure, paying more than those who earn less.

Patrick continues to say he’ll veto the DeLeo/Murray plan. But House Ways and Means Chairman Brian Dempsey says in the Globe this morning that the House will most likely abandon changing its transportation plan even if it means raising MBTA fares on the working class again.

If the legislators fold up their transportation tents and go home, the MBTA will go bankrupt without fare hikes, which in reality are nothing but a tax on poor people. It would also leave state roads and bridges to further crumble, and possibly leave the long, hard work on transportation planning for commuter rail to the a Republican governor whose party has long shown little interest in expanding the state’s transportation network.

Is it really true that the Democrat Legislature of Massachusetts would rather raise poor people’s MBTA fares than hike middle class taxes?

The Southcoast legislative delegation doesn’t seem to have the power or the wit to stand up to Boston-centric legislative leadership. But someone is going to have to have a “Come to Jesus” moment with them. Patrick seems to be the sole political figure in the state who is willing.

Governor Patrick was elected as an outsider, someone who was willing to do things differently than the “business as usual” culture on Beacon Hill. He’s proved it by delivering on a transportation plan for the whole state, not just those who already have.

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Blog Author

Jack Spillane

Jack Spillane is the executive news editor of The Standard-Times and southcoasttoday.com and a political and human interest columnist for the paper.
Jack holds a master's degree in mass communication from Emerson College and has been a ... Read Full